Join a meeting as an avatar in Microsoft Teams
Notes:
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If you don't have access to the Avatars for Microsoft Teams app, contact your IT admin or see Set up avatars for Microsoft Teams.
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Avatars for Teams are currently available on the Teams desktop app for Windows and Mac, and are view-only on the Teams mobile app. For more information, see Avatars for Teams release notes.
Avatars for Microsoft Teams adds a new layer of choice to your meetings. By customizing your avatars the way you want to look, you can be yourself and let people get to know you in a conversation, even with your video turned off.
Jump to a section:
Install the Avatars app
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On the left side of Teams, select Apps and search for "Avatars".
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Open the app.
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If the Avatars app doesn't appear in your search results, try selecting More added apps
and searching there instead.
Tip: For easy access, pin Avatars to the left side of Teams by right-clicking the app, then selecting Pin.
Create a new avatar
For each of your Teams accounts, you can create up to three distinct avatars. A wide selection of base avatars is available to help you get started and choose the representation that best fits you.
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Go to Apps. Search for and open the Avatars app.
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Select + > Create new to start from scratch with creating an avatar.
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Choose a base avatar to get started creating and select Use Avatar to customize it.
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To copy one of your existing avatars and use that to customize further, first select the avatar you would like to duplicate, then select + > Duplicate.
Join your meetings as an avatar
Select and join a meeting from your Teams calendar. Turn off your camera, then expand Effects and Avatars and select your avatar or Create More to create a new avatar.
Once you’re in a Teams meeting, you can join an immersive space. For more information, see the immersive spaces documentation.
Turn on your avatar while in a Teams meeting
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Select More ... > Effects and avatars.
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On the right side of the screen, select Avatars.
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Under Your Avatar, you'll have up to three different avatars to choose from. If you haven't yet customized an avatar, select Open Avatars app to start creating or customizing your avatars.
Use TTS with the Avatars app
Activate the in-app text to speech (TTS) system in the current version of the Avatar customizer. With operating screen readers such as Windows Narrator, you'll be prompted to turn on the TTS system as you enter the application. When you open the Avatar customizer app, focus inside of it. When loading is complete, the system will announce "Press Ctrl + b to activate the TTS system", and at this point TTS will be enabled. The TTS system behaves similarly to screen readers.
Troubleshooting
To use avatars for Teams, the minimum hardware spec requires a two-core processor with 6GB of RAM. For the best experience, we recommend a hardware spec of a four-core processor and 8GB of RAM. To learn more, see Hardware requirements for Microsoft Teams.
Common low-bandwidth issues
You may experience the following when using avatars with low bandwidth:
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Loading your avatar can take up to 10 seconds or more.
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Avatar wardrobe items might not be saved to your avatar after being selected. If this occurs, try saving again.
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Selected backgrounds might not be applied to the Avatar preview. If this occurs, try selecting a background again.
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Avatar video stream might flicker green when the Teams video resolution changes.
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